


Artificial Knight

by ChibiChef



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel & Vessel Interactions (Supernatural), Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Heartbreak, Kidnapping, Revenge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:13:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27580531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiChef/pseuds/ChibiChef
Summary: Turned into something monstrous by the people she served, Esme Adwell finds herself in the bunker of the British Men of Letters most hated American counterparts: The Winchesters. Her time with them turns up the truth of the experiments she was subjected to, but more importantly the reasons for the reoccurring nightmares of a pit and a man with glowing red eyes.
Relationships: Arthur Ketch/Original Female Character(s), Lucifer/Original Female Character(s), Mick Davies/Original Female Character(s), Sam Winchester/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 3





	1. Experiment AD-01 Has Escaped

As the alarms blared through every hallway, and the emergency lights activated, I ran as fast as I could, trying to find an exit, an escape from my entrapment. There was a loud squeal that cut over the alarm from the PA system. “This is Doctor Hess. Experiment AD-01 has escaped from her room. Do not let her leave the facility. Lethal force has been authorized.” As the PA clicked out, I realized that if I didn’t take this opportunity to escape now, that I would never be free from all of them. Running out of options, and slowly becoming trapped in a corner, I closed my eyes and snapped my fingers. When the world stopped spinning and I could feel my feet touching the ground again I opened my eyes. I looked around to try to piece together where I was when I saw a “Welcome to Lebanon, Kansas” sign. As I tried to walk down the side of the road, I could feel my head getting dizzier and dizzier. It seemed that transporting here had made me weak, but I had to find my way to the only place I knew I would be safe. I had to get to the Bunker.

\---------------------- 

As the sun began to set in the rear-view mirror of the Impala, Dean drove down the road back home after finishing a hunt with Sam, who was sleeping beside him. There had been a simple salt ‘n burn a few towns over, so the boys decided to go take care of it and pick up some food on the way back. As Dean drove past the “Welcome to Lebanon, Kansas” sign, he saw someone walking down the side of the road. It looked like a woman, and she looked like she had been in some trouble. Shaking Sam’s arm to wake him, Dean pointed to the woman and they decided to see if she needed any help. Dean pulled the Impala onto the side of the road and both the boys got out. When they called out to the woman, she turned around slowly, before quickly falling over onto the ground. The boys quickly ran over to her, Dean holding her up in his arms as she started coming to. When she opened her eyes, Dean asked her where she was going. To both brother’s surprise, she told them that she was headed to a Bunker located somewhere in town. When Sam asked her how she knew about the Bunker, all she managed to say was “British” before passing out again. Dean looked up at Sam who had the same look of concern that he did. This woman was from the British faction of the Men of Letters, the faction that wanted the brothers dead. As Dean carried the woman to the Impala, Sam noticed a strange looking mark on her neck. “Hey Dean, check this out. She has a tattoo on her neck. It says ‘AD-01, I wonder what that means? We should look it up when we get back to the Bunker.” Dean nodded as he placed the woman in the backseat, before closing the door and taking his seat behind the wheel. As the boys continued towards the Bunker, now with a woman of letters unconscious in the backseat of the Impala, they began to theorize what she could possibly want, and why she was trying to get to the bunker. What they didn’t know, was that the only thing the Woman of Letters sleeping in their backseat wanted, was a place to hide because for the first time, she was scared for her life.

\--------------------- 

Slowly opening my eyes, I saw the shape of two men standing a few feet away from me. Feeling something around my arms, I looked down and saw that I had been tied to a chair with some rope, unable to move my arms or my legs. “How long have I been out for?” I asked.  
“Three days.” One of the men answered. “Okay, next question then. Where am I?”  
“You’re in the Men of Letters Bunker in Lebanon, Kansas. Now, what does a British Men of Letter want with us now?” One of the men said. When my eyes finally adjusted to the room, I realized who the two men were. It was Sam and Dean Winchester. The two American legacies that the higher-ups wanted to be eliminated. “Do I need to repeat myself?” The shorter one asked. “Dean maybe give her a moment, she looks like hell.” So, if he called the short one Dean, then the other one must be Sam. Regaining my composure for a moment, I looked up at the two boys. “Woman.” Both the boys looked over at me, Sam quizzically, while Dean seemed slightly annoyed. “What did you say?” Sam asked. “He,” I nodded my head towards Dean “Called me a Men of Letters. I am not a ‘Men’ of Letters. I am a ‘Woman’ of Letters, a Legacy, just like the two of you and like the two of you, I am not a friend, nor an ally of the Brits. Not anymore anyway. Now can you please untie me so that we can have a conversation like adults?”  
“Oh, Hell no. You’re not getting untied until you’ve answered all of our questions, and we know you're not dangerous.” Dean remarked, walking over to me and leaning down till our faces were inches away from each other. “Now question number one. What’s with the barcode tattoo on your neck and what does ‘AD-01’ mean?” My eyes widened, not realizing that they had seen that tattoo, but since they had it didn’t make sense to hide the truth now. “Well, it has something to do with this.” And with a quick flick, both my eyes went black, causing Dean to jump back and draw an angel blade to my neck. I let out a quiet giggle at watching the older Winchester’s sudden reaction. “Now, now gentlemen, if I meant you any harm, I would have gotten out of this rope and have the two of you pinned to the wall. Now, can you please remove that bloody blade away from my neck?” Sam placed a hand on Dean’s shoulder and gave him a nod. Dean slowly pulled the blade away, but he refused to take his eyes off me. His piercing green stare, so full of anger. Once Dean backed away a far distance, I snapped my fingers, and the rope that was binding me to the chair disappeared. “Now then, you were asking about what the tattoo meant. Well, it’s my ID code that the Brits gave me when they started their experiments on me. A way of keeping track of me while I was locked in the facility.” I looked over to the boys who were both now listening intently, Sam seeming to be the more interested of the two now. “When you say, ‘experiments on me’, you don’t mean that they--.” 

“They did Sam. I became ‘Experiment AD-01’, the first human weapon to be created by the British Men of Letters to combat and eliminate all the evil in the world.” I rubbed the back of my neck, remembering the moment it was seared onto my skin. “Before that though, I was Esme Adwell, granddaughter to Harrison Adwell of the British Men of Letters. I was the top of the organization, their best operative. Trained to fight by Ketch and taught to research by Mick.” I took a deep breath, clenching my fists into my clothes, “which is why I was the perfect candidate for the AD experiment.” The two boys looked at each other before Sam walked over to me and squatted down so we were eye level with each other. “Esme, what exactly was this experiment? What exactly did they do to you?” I looked into his eyes and saw a softness that I hadn’t seen since—well it didn’t matter now. I looked over to Dean, who was leaning against the wall watching me as I looked back to Sam. “Experiment Artificial Demon, codenamed: AD. To create an army of artificial demons that can match the powers of hell and are at the complete control of the British Men of Letters” Both Sam and Dean went wide-eyed once they heard me, and Dean quickly walked over, standing behind Sam before letting me continue. “I was AD-01. The first one they tried to turn into one of their Demon soldiers, and after I managed to get loose from them, I made sure that I was going to be their only experiment.” I felt a hand on my shoulder as I let a tear ran down my face and fell onto my hands. Looking up, I saw Sam with his arm extended, telling me that it was going to be okay and that I could stay here until we figured everything out. I jumped out of the chair and onto Sam, pulling him into a hug as I started to cry. Dean tried to pull me away from Sam, but Sam just looked at him and nodded before wrapping his arms around me and slowly running his hand down my hair. After a few moments, I let go of Sam, and he helped me up to my feet. I looked up at the two boys and thanked them for letting me stay before they showed me to one of the empty rooms in the Bunker that I could claim at my own, just a few doors away from Sam’s room, which seemed to only annoy Dean more. As I walked into my room the boys told me that they were going to head off to bed. When I told them to have a good-night, Dean just let out a huff and walked away, earning a sigh from Sam and a giggle from me. Sam walked over to me and gave me a hug telling me that if I needed anything that I could come wake him up and ask. I said thank you once more before he walked out the door closing it behind him but not before taking one more look at me with a smile on his face. “Good-night Esme.” I sat on my bed and couldn’t help but smile. It was more than the fact that I was now somewhere safe with people, or at least one person who was willing to help me, but it was the first time in years that someone had called me ‘Esme’, instead of ‘Experiment AD-01’. I thought to myself how much each of the boys reminded me of my mentors comparing Dean’s cold and angry stares to the same ones that Ketch use to give me during training when I would mess something up, and Sam, he reminded me so much of Mick... Mick. Just thinking about him again made my smile disappear, and I lied down, wrapping the blankets around myself, shedding one tear before letting my eyes close and falling to sleep.

For the next couple of weeks per Dean’s demands, though Sam called them requests, my movements around the bunker were limited to a few rooms: my bedroom, the bathroom, and the library for research, which to be fair was all I really needed. I’d long outgrown the need to eat, though I would never turn down a plate of food if one was to be offered. Another term of my stay was that I wasn’t allowed to leave the bunker, so I spent many nights alone. All the doors were warded with devil’s traps so even if I did want to leave, I couldn’t. The question is, why would I want to leave? Everyone outside these walls that wanted me was either dead or trying to kill me now, at least in here there was one person who genuinely cared. When the guys were home, Sam never left my side. He would stay with me in the Library, helping me research. After he and Dean finished supper, he would bring me a piece of dessert no matter how many times I told him that I didn’t eat. He never failed to be kind to me, and when I needed to talk to someone about what was going on in my head, he would sit down with me and just let me talk for hours. One night, after we had finished a long day of research, the two of us decided to drink, and at some point between the alcohol and the third awful movie we put on, I had my head buried in Sam’s chest and I called him my Knight in Flannel Armour, which earned quite the laugh, and he told me something, but the alcohol had finally caught up with me, and I fell asleep.


	2. Nightmares of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam is startled awake by Esme's screams as her past plays out in her nightmares. When Sam asks to know the things that plaque her sleeping moments, she warns him that none of it is what he could ever expect.

The smell of burning flesh surrounds me, and I can feel the heat of the flames on my skin. This is what Hell was like, and in this world, I was an unstoppable force, but then why did he leave me? Why did the man who picked me to be one of his knights abandon me? He has betrayed me, and I will get him back for this. I screamed into the endless cavern in front of me, the thought of brutal revenge consuming my every fiber. 

\--------------- 

I woke up to Sam shaking me, pleading with me to wake-up. As I looked over to him, I asked him what was going on. “You were screaming in your sleep. I could hear you from my room, so I came running.” I looked down into my bedsheets as I remembered my dream. I had been having similar dreams for the past few years since they started the experiment really. I was in what I could only assume was Hell, but it wasn’t me in my dream. It was as if I was looking through someone else’s eyes, having their nightmare. I must have been lost in thought because Sam placed his hand over mine before calling out my name, which brought me back to reality. I looked up at him and stared into his big puppy dog eyes, leaning over to give him a hug and thanking him for waking me up from my nightmare. He hugged me back and I could feel him nuzzling my neck with his nose, but when I let out a quiet moan at the feeling, he pulled back, his cheeks slightly red. He stood up and let me know that there was breakfast ready in the kitchen if I was hungry. I told him that I would be down in a moment, and he walked out of my room, closing the door behind him. I lied in bed staring at the ceiling. Sam had heard me screaming in my sleep and without a second thought, he came to check up on me, just like Mick would do when he could sneak by security. I can still feel his arms wrapping around my waist as he whispered in my ear that everything was going to be okay and that he would always be here for me. I sat up and quickly whipped my pillow at the door, unable to hold back the emotions anymore. “You lied to me, Mick! You told me you were always going to be here! Where are you now?!” I started sobbing, pulling my knees to my chest. “I loved you… why did you leave me, Mick?” I whimpered between sobs. I heard my door opening but my eyes were too filled with tears to see clearly when I suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around me, which only caused me to cry harder. Once I calmed down and wiped the tears from my eyes, I looked up to see that it was Sam who had come into my room, Dean leaning against the doorframe looking annoyed as usual. Sam looked into my eyes as he cupped my cheek in his hand. “It’s okay, I got you.” The comforting warmth in his eyes made me melt into his touch. He gave me a small smile before his look changed to that of concern. “Esme. Do you want to talk about it? Whatever it is, I can just listen.” 

“Not with ‘him’ here.” I looked over at Dean, who was now staring daggers at me as Sam got closer to me. “Dean, could you give us a bit?” Sam said, looking over to the older Winchester. Dean rolled his eyes, letting out an annoyed huff before shutting the door behind him and stomping down the hallway. Sam pulled himself onto the foot of my bed and crossed his legs. I asked him if I could get a little more comfortable before I started telling him what was wrong. He nodded his head, and almost jumped when I turned around and rested my head on his lap. I looked up into his eyes and giggled at the shade of red appearing on his cheeks. He looked down at me and gave me a smile as he started to play with my hair. “So where do you want to start Esme?” 

“I guess I should start at the beginning. I have to warn you though Sam, it’s an uncomfortable tale.” He told me to take my time, and that he would hear everything that I had to say. I took a deep breath, trying to keep my composure as I started to tell my story. 

“When my Grandfather passed away, my mother took me and fled to Britain. She had watched how the Men of Letters consumed her father’s life, and she didn’t want that for her child. My life in the States was normal, but sadly it couldn’t last forever. My mother passed away when I was six, and with no living family I was going to end up a product of the foster system.” I let out a quiet chuckle. “Turns out that the Brits knew where we were the entire time, and once my mother was out of the way they came and took me back to Britain; that’s where I met Ketch and Mick. They were a couple of classes ahead of me at Kendricks, but they became my friends; my family; those were wonderful times. In between classes the three of us would get together and swap stories, we’d sit down and have lunch together, and that’s the way it stayed for years, until they graduated from Hendricks, and became my mentors. Ketch was the best field operative that they’d ever had, so he trained me how to fight and how to kill. Mick was more of the intellectual type, so he was tasked with teaching me how to conduct deep research.” I paused for a moment, the memories of the time I spent with the two of them always managing to pull my focus away from what I was doing. I felt Sam run his fingers through my hair as he nodded his head letting me know that I could continue whenever I was ready.  
“Ketch and I always had a brother/sister relationship. He would always pick on me, hiding things, you know the usual older brother things. It was different from Mick though. Since the day we met there was always this pull between the two of us, but neither of us acted on it since relationships within the group were not advised. That didn’t stop him though. One night while we were researching a case for Ketch, I noticed Mick slowly moving closer, and closer to me until our legs were touching. I felt his hand lay on top of mine and when I turned to ask him what he was doing, I was met with a warm pair of lips. I never pulled away, I just draped my arms on his shoulder, and he placed his hand on my waist. We would have stayed like that till we heard a cough at the door and both of us turned to see Ketch standing in the doorway, telling us how it was about time the two of us let our emotions out. Mick and I looked at each other and started to laugh before he pulled me into another kiss, whispering his love for me on my lips. It was a few years later that he asked me to marry him, and I said yes.” My voice started to crack, and I could feel the tears welting up in my eyes. “A few months later, I was selected as the candidate for Experiment Artificial Demon. Unable to act against the higher-ups, Mick and Ketch could do nothing but watch me get taken away, kicking and screaming as I pleaded with them not to do this. It would be months until I would see either of them again, though I don’t think any amount of time would have prepared them for what they saw. When they walked into my room, you could have heard their jaws hitting the floor. Mick ran over to me, wrapping his arms around me crying, apologizing for letting this happen to me, and that they would find a way to get me freed from all of this. Ketch just stood quietly behind him and nodded his head. Mick gave me a quick kiss before he and Ketch left.” Unable to hold back the tears anymore, I turned onto my side, so I was facing Sam as I let the tears flow onto his pants. “Just over a year later, they were both gone. I had nothing, both the man I loved and the man I called brother were both gone, and I’d never see them again. So, I decided to escape, using the small amount of energy I had to transport myself as far away from them as possible. Then you and Dean found me, and that about sums up everything that happened before I got here.” 

Silence filled the room once I finished my story. I sat up from Sam’s lap, wiping the tears from my face, waiting for him to say something, but he didn’t. Instead, he pulled me as close as he could to his chest, and just held me for a few moments before looking down at me, and slowly he began to press his lips to mine. I didn’t try to pull away, if anything I pulled him closer. Sam’s hands made their way to my hips as I tangled my fingers in his hair. Suddenly there was a loud bang, and we both turned to see Dean standing in the doorway, a look of pure anger on his face as he dashed over to me and Sam, pulling Sam off the bed and pointing a gun to my head. Dean yelled at Sam to get out, and when Sam refused, Dean turned to him and shoved him out of the room closing the door behind him, and then I heard the click of a lock from the outside. I jumped out of my bed and ran to the door, only for my fear to be realized as Dean had locked it from the outside. I could hear the two brothers yelling at each other, but I couldn’t make out the words. All I could do was sit against my headboard and wait.


	3. Nightmarish Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a tense conversation between brothers, and a startled angel, more of Esme's past comes to light; even if it's not her past to remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey,  
> Sorry, this chapter took so long to come out. I've actually had it done for quite a while, but theirs been some tragedies in my family and personal over the last few months and I've just been trying to process all of it before I posted again. Thank you for understanding, and I look forward to weekly (if not biweekly updates) :)

“Dean! What’s wrong with you?” Sam shouted at his older brother as he locked the door to Esme’s room. Dean turned around to face Sam and just scoffed before walking towards the library. “Hey! I’m talking to you!” Sam shouted, following his brother who continued to ignore him. When they both reached the Library, Dean turned around and slapped Sam straight across the face, a loud crack resonating off the walls. “Do you really think that ‘thing’ loves you?! Come on Sammy, she’s a demon, and a Brit no less. She’s using you, she just wants to trick you so she can kill you. The bitch deserves to die, and if you won’t do it, I will.” Still feeling the sting of his brother’s slap, Sam took a deep breath and tried to reason with him. “Dean, I can get why you don’t trust her, but she needs our help. Look, if she meant us any harm, she would have tried something by now, but she hasn’t, so I don’t see why we can’t give her a chance.” Sam tried to place his hand on Dean’s shoulder, but Dean slapped his hand away, and simply glared at Sam. “That ‘girl’ is not human. She’s a monster, and monsters get put down.”

“Yeah, and it wasn’t that long ago that I was in her shoes, and you called me the same thing. You didn’t give up on me and managed to save me, Dean. Why can’t we do the same for her?” Thinking about his past, with the demon blood, and all the chaos he caused wasn’t something he was proud of, but Dean never gave up on him and because of that, he was able to be saved. “Yeah, well by the sounds of it I didn’t manage to save you completely. Two monsters falling for each other; a match made right in Hell.” That last comment was enough to finally make Sam snap, and out of nowhere, he took off towards Dean, tackling him to the ground and getting a few solid punches in on the older Winchester’s face. Sam was willing to take a lot of crap from Dean, but never, in a million years would he ever take his brother calling him a ‘Monster’, not after everything that he was done to try and make up for everything he caused. “You think I’m a monster!? Maybe you need to look in the fucking mirror Dean, cause last time I checked, your track record isn’t clean either. You’ve been a demon too, and did I kill you then? No! I went through Hell and back and brought you back! I never gave up on you, and you’ve never given up on me, and I’m not about to give up on someone who needs our help, not when I can understand her pain!” Sam screamed at him, landing another good blow to Dean’s jaw. Dean had stopped fighting back, and at this point; was letting Sammy let out his emotions on him. “I may not be able to take away all that pain, but I can at least let her know that she isn’t on her own, that someone out there understands what she’s feeling.” Tears were now welting up in Sam’s eyes. Looking at Esme was like looking into a mirror for him. This poor girl who just wanted to live a normal life dragged into a world of hunting, and then against her own will, turned into the very thing she hunted. Sam could understand every bit of what she was feeling. So, lost in his own thoughts, Sam didn’t notice Dean moving until he was flipped onto his back, and Dean stood above him, with his foot on Sam’s chest. “So, is that what it is? You have pity for something because you sympathize with its back story. How do you even know she’s telling the truth, huh? For all, we know the bitch could be making this up.” Sam pushed Dean’s foot off his chest and stood up before locking eyes with his brother, anger built up behind them. “She’s not lying! I’ve- I’ve seen the experiment footage.” Sam looked down, his voice going quieter as he mentioned the footage. Dean looked at Sam with confusion, so Sam explained.

“When she was sleeping, I took a picture of the tattoo on her neck and uploaded it to my computer. Using that files from the Men of Letter’s servers I was able to get into the Brit’s servers. Dean- the things they did to her. They injected her with demon blood, and then they’d lock her in a room with other monsters. She had to kill or be killed. Between that, and all the tests they put her through, it makes what we went through in Hell look like a cakewalk. They did this every day to her for over four years Dean, and that’s just the stuff I can get access to. There’s another file here that I can’t get into, something called ‘Injection Knight’. Dean, she needs us, please. Give her a chance.” Dean took a moment before he grabbed Sam’s laptop and opened the files. All the color in his face drained as he watched the experiment videos, his eyes widening with every scene. He slammed the laptop shut and threw it onto the table. “Okay, so what do we do if she turns on us?” His eyes never looking up at his brother. Sam took a moment before he gave Dean an answer.   
“If she turns, then I’ll take care of it, but Dean, you need to give her a chance. You gave me one.” A few moments of silence passed, then Dean walked past Sam, patting him on the shoulder and leaving the Library. A few moments later, that sound of footstep could be heard walking down that hallway back towards the library. When Sam turned around, Dean & Esme entered the library, Esme looking scared, refusing to take her eyes off the ground. When Sam called her name, Esme looked up and ran into Sam’s arms. Sam wrapped her tightly to his chest before looking up at his brother, saying thank you and he stroked Esme’s hair.

“Don’t thank me quite yet Sammy, the three of us still need to have a chat. Now Esme, if you would be so kind to take a seat, I have some questions.” Dean said, pulling a chair out. Esme looked up at Sam, and he gave her a reassuring nod before giving her a kiss on the forehead and leading her over to the chair. Esme took a seat, and Dean sat opposite her, Sam standing behind him. “Okay, so I know this may be a little difficult, but you need to tell us what exactly they did to you when they turned you into a Demon? We’ve seen some footage but if we're going to help you we need to know what exactly happened in that building.” Esme's look of shock was immediate once Dean mentioned the footage. When she asked how they knew, Sam told her about hacking the Brit’s system and finding the files. “There was one file we couldn’t access, and theirs a chance that whatever that file contains the answers we need to help you.” Esme took a moment before she asked what the files were called. “Injection Knight,” Dean commented. Esme’s entire stance changed at the mention of the file. Now tenser than anything, but even through whatever memories were coming back, she decided that it was time to tell the boys what happened.

\--------------------- 

As I stared at Sam and Dean, all the memories of the experiment still seemed so fresh, and I guess the pain from them was obvious because Sam walked over to me and kissed my cheek, telling me that to take my time. To finally tell someone about the experiment was so much harder than I thought it was going to be but having Sam there somehow made it easier.  
“When the experiment started, it wasn’t anything extreme. Testing my vitals, doing runs, seeing where my hand-to-hand combat skills were, basic things. It was after the first week that they started the blood trials. Every day, I would be strapped into a chair, and they would inject me with fresh demon blood, most of it taken from successful hunts. At first, it was one needle a day, but when they weren’t getting the results they wanted they increased the dose to three needles.” I grabbed my arm, right where they had injected every drop of demon blood, the cold feel of the needle still fresh in my mind. “I can still feel the adrenaline rush from it hitting my veins. God, the high from it was so good at the beginning, and the power from it made me unstoppable.” My eyes lowered somberly, “that was the only good thing about it. Eventually, I stopped feeling the highs and the bloodlust kicked in. At first, they would throw me in a room with a few vampires or werewolves, but once they became too easy, I was moved up to other demons. They were told that if any of them could kill me, they would get the souls of every active member of the British Men of Letters, I guess you can see how that ended up. But that wasn’t the end of it, because, after a few hundred demons, Doctor Hess decided that I needed more of a challenge.” I gripped my jeans so tightly; my knuckles began to turn white. The boys look at each other before Sam asked what they challenged me with.

“Disgraced Men of Letters. Those who went against what the organization stood for and were captured for it. Most of them were sentenced to death, so when they had the opportunity to earn their freedom by killing a demon, every one of them jumped at the opportunity,” a single tear slid down my cheek, as I looked up at the boys with pitch-black eyes, “and every last one of them died.” Sam and Dean were jaws dropped. To imagine that the Brits went so far as to turn one of their operatives into a demon, but then to sacrifice former ops in the name of science was horrific. I blinked my eyes and let them go back to my natural hazel eyes. “That explains the video footage, but that doesn’t explain what’s in that last file,” Dean commented, causing me to look back to the floor. “Injection Knight was a special injection. I don’t know what it was, but it different, something much darker than your average demon blood. To be honest, I’m still not exactly sure what it was supposed to do, nothing really changed except, I started having the nightmares and I think----” My words were cut off with the sound of feathers, and suddenly the Winchesters’ angel, Castiel stood in the room, angel blade drawn, and he began to walk towards me. Dean quickly stood up and stopped Castiel from getting to me asking what was going on. “Don’t you see it, that woman is a demon.”

“We know, but it’s more complicated than that, she was turned into a demon against her will.” Castiel’s stare was taken away from me as he looked at Dean and he explained the situation. When Dean was done, Castiel walked over to me and apologized for his earlier transgression. I told him it was okay, but since he was here that maybe he could help fill in a part of my story. When he asked what I meant, I told him about Injection Knight, he looked at me perplexed before placing two fingers on my forehead. As he searched through my memories, I could tell where he was by his reactions. Suddenly, he pulled away, a look of great fear now covering his face. When Sam asked what he saw, you could see him trying to process everything into words.

“The nightmares she’s been having aren’t nightmares, but memories. The thing is, they’re not her memories. From what I could see, you were injected with blood from something more powerful than a demon, and with the name of the injection, I can only assume it’s the blood of a Knight of Hell.” The room fell silent as the three of us tried to process what Castiel had said. Sam looked over to me and asked, “Esme, what exactly do you see in these nightmares?” So, I told him about being in a dark cavern in Hell. The feeling of being betrayed by the person I was sworn to protect and serve, and the consuming emotion of revenge. Castiel looked down for a moment, before turning to the boys and asking them how much they knew about a Knight of Hell named Lumia. The boys said that they’d never heard of them before, but I had. When I told them, I knew who she was, Castiel asked how I knew, so I told him that we had studied all the Knights of Hell when I was at Kendricks. “She was one of the first Knights of Hell that Cain trained, hand-picked by Lucifer himself to be his personal Knight. From what we were told, she died sometime in the eighteenth century.”  
“That’s almost accurate. She was hand-picked by Lucifer, but not so much to be his personal Knight. She was picked to be his companion. Someone who he could get to follow him around and boss around the demons for him. She was his most loyal follower, and he used that to his advantage every chance he had. Then one day, he betrayed her, as God had done to him. He cast her out of his kingdom, down into the darkest caverns of Hell that not even the bravest of Demon would dare venture to. As far as I know, she’s still down there.” 

“If what your saying is true Cas, then that still doesn’t explain how her blood got used for the experiments.”  
“Perhaps I can shed some light on this situation.” Suddenly, there was a man standing behind the Winchesters wearing a black suit and reeking of Hell. I recognized his face, or at least that of his current vessel. This was Crowley, the current King of Hell, and from what the reports said a frequent associate of the Winchesters. “Hello, boys, and hello to you my dear Esme. I see that the Brits' experiment worked, and they created a demon with a soul.”  
“Crowley, what the hell do you know about the experiments?” Sam asked, both him and Dean now a little tenser at the arrival of their ‘favorite’ demon. “What do I know? My dear boys, how do you think they got all that blood in the first place.”


	4. Blood & Flannel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley shows up to fill in some of the missing pieces.

“You helped them do this to her?” Sam growled, walking towards Crowley, blade in hand. “I’ll kill you where you fucking stand.  
“Easy their Moose, I’m the man with all the answers, and I assume you want all the answers, don’t you?” Crowley remarked with a smirk, flicking his wrist and throwing Sam against a wall. “Now then,” he started, turning his attention to me and making his way over. “I think it’s time we get down to business. You my dear were injected with the blood of Lucifer’s betrayed, the only demon to ‘technically’ be cast out of Hell. She didn’t take that too kindly, and so she plans her revenge from the darkest cavern in Hell. Now, when your higher-ups asked for my help with an experiment using demon blood, I couldn’t resist the chance to test a little experiment of my own.”

“What do you mean her higher-ups asked you?” Dean interrupted. I looked over to Dean and told him that my higher-ups had made a deal with Crowley to keep his demons activity limited in the UK to the people stupid enough to sell their souls, and we wouldn’t go after him. Crowley grinned as he turned around and started pacing. “I went to Lumia’s cavern and gave her quite the opportunity. I told Lucifer’s fallen knight that I could give her a way to walk the earth again and destroy the man responsible for her pain. Tell me, Esme, have you been having a strange dream? Something along the lines of ‘smelling burning flesh and feeling hot flames’ ring a bell?” My face dropped, unable to formulate a response. Crowley’s description was spot on. I can only assume that he got the reaction he was hoping for because he let out a small chuckle. “That my dear girl is not a nightmare or memories like winged idiot implied. No, what your seeing my dear exactly what Lumia sees every day, feels every day. You’ve become something more than just a demon, you have become a vessel for the strongest Knight of Hell ever created, and she’s just itching to meet you.” The room fell silent, all eyes now on me, and I just sat there, holding back the urge to start sobbing. “So, is this like what happened with Sam, to become Lucifer’s true vessel?” Dean asked, Sam, tensing up at the mention of his past. 

“Almost, except that she doesn’t need to keep consuming demon blood since she’s already a demon. With Esme, she just needs to give in to the dark side a bit more and the true power of Lumia’s blood will takeover, and she’ll be able to take over. Word of warning, she despises humanity and will probably murder all of you once Lucifer is out of the picture. Now then, best be off, ta.” And Crowley was gone, probably back to his palace to hide for the impending doom. As a daunting silence enveloped the Library, I tried to process everything that we had just been told. My head felt like it was swimming in the ocean without anything to grab onto and I saw drowning. My entire world, even with how chaotic it usually was, turned completely on its head. Nothing felt real like my entire reality was slowly running through my fingers. It took a moment for me to bring myself back to the moment, and when I had, I found myself wrapped up in Sam’s arms. He was telling me that everything was going to be alright and that he would never leave my side. Those were the exact same words Mick said before him and Ketch. I pushed Sam away from me, and as quickly as I could, I stood from my chair and ran into my bedroom, locking the door behind me. I threw myself onto my bed, burying my face into my pillow, and began sobbing. I could hear Sam knocking on my dear, begging me to let him in, but I never answered him, I just continued to cry into my pillow. After a while, I could hear footsteps walking away from my door, so I got up to look. I walked over to the door and when I opened it, Sam was gone, but in his place, there was a letter with my name on it. I took the letter and locked myself in my room once more. I set the letter on my nightstand as I changed out of my normal clothes and into a flannel shirt and a pair of sweats that Sam had lent me. Curling up underneath the covers on my bed, I brought my knees up to my chest and grabbed the letter off my nightstand. I unfolded it and began to read it.

‘Esme,  
I know right now, you have a lot of information that you need to absorb and make sense of, but you need to know that no matter what it doesn’t change how any of us look at you. We are going to do whatever it takes to try and find a way out of this. We will not let you be used as her vessel, and we will make the Brits pay for everything that did to you. Esme, we will keep you safe no matter what--- I will keep you safe no matter what. I promise you, I will never leave your side. I know you’ve lost the people closest to you, I know you lost Mick. I know what it’s like to lose the person you love more than anything. I know that it feels you’ll never find anyone to fill that void in your heart, but I can promise you, it is possible. You’ll find someone one day, who makes your entire life better just by being a part of it. Who will look at you the same way-----’ the line had some words scribbled out but continued further down.  
‘The same way I look at you. Since the night we met, I felt something pulling me towards you, and maybe it has something to with the bond between Lumia and Lucifer, but I know how I feel about you. You’re the only person who I’ve ever met who knows my past and doesn’t look at me like some sort of monster or as a hunter, you just saw a person that you could open up to and trust to listen. Esme, I know that I should say this in person to you, but I want to give you the space you need to deal with everything; I love you, Esme. Even if you don’t share the same emotions, even if you don’t love me back, I will protect you with my life.  
You knight in flannel armor,  
Sam.’

I clenched the letter as tight as possible to my chest, feeling my heart racing. To say that I didn’t love Sam would be a lie. In so many ways he reminded me of everything that I loved about Mick, yet what made me really love Sam was that he never once saw me how I saw myself, as a monster. He looked at me with compassion, like I was human. He was everything I could have ever dreamed of, and more than I ever deserved. I knew what I needed to do now, and there was no better time to start. I stood from my bed and walked over to the door. As I unlocked and opened it, Dean was standing in the doorway, just about to knock.  
“Hey,” Dean said, rubbing the back of his neck, obviously still a little on edge from the conversation earlier. “Listen, I know that you and I didn’t exactly start off on the right foot, and to be completely honest, I’m still not 100% comfortable with having you around, but Sam trusts you, so I guess I’ll trust you too. Just remember this, if you ever do anything to hurt Sammy, I will make sure it’s the last god damn thing you do. Now, I think there’s a sad puppy waiting for you in his room.” Dean chuckled, nodding his head towards Sam’s room. I looked up at Dean and smiled and nodding my head as well. As I stood outside Sam’s door, I held the letter in my other hand, trying to figure out what exactly I was going to tell him, how I was going to word up everything that I felt towards him, and if I could even speak when I saw him. I raised my hand to gently knock on his door, but instead of feeling the wood of the door in my knuckles, I felt the material of a t-shirt. When I looked up, I saw Sam staring down at me, a slight smile on his face. I watched his eyes move down to my hand, seeing the note he wrote me. “I see you got my letter. Esme, please let me expla-----.” I didn’t let him finish his sentence. I draped my arms on Sam’s shoulders as I pressed my lips to his. Sam wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into his room, kicking the door shut. We fell onto the bed, and I pulled away from him, giving him a big smile, before snuggling up to his chest. “Sorry, I interrupted you,” I said with a giggle. “But I just wanted to tell you that I love you too.” Sam kissed the top of my head as he pulled the blanket over the two of us as I began to fall asleep.


End file.
